Melbourne Vixens

Vixens hope to keep up momentum

After a strong and promising start to the 2012 season, the Melbourne Vixens will face ladder leaders the Adelaide Thunderbirds this Sunday.

Both teams have two consecutive wins under their belt and will be hungry for a third.

However, Melbourne Vixen Geva Mentor believes the team has demonstrated that they have what it takes to make it three from three.

"We're very happy with our start this season. Winning our first two games away from home this early in the season has been a huge confidence boost for the team. We now know where we stand, and that we've got what it takes to go the whole way."

The focus for the team on Sunday will be to keep the momentum going across all four quarters, says Mentor.

"We've talked about consistency a lot and it really will be the key to success for us. We've had two really good halves in the first two games but we now need to make sure we play good quality netball the whole way through."

After moving from the Adelaide Thunderbirds to the Melbourne Vixens camp in 2011, Geva says there is always some rivalry when playing against old team mates but she is looking forward to the challenge.

With "star players across the court", Mentor expects the Thunderbirds to put up a good fight.

"One of their biggest strengths is their dominant shooting circle. However, they've got key players in all areas - their mid-courters have great fitness and vision down the court and their defenders are always out hunting which results in a high turnover rate.

As long as we play our game both individually and as a unit, I'm confident we can win."

The last time the Vixens and Thunderbirds met was at a practice match in Bendigo early last month. The Vixens showed a highly impressive performance early on in the piece, establishing a 14 goal lead in the second quarter. However, unforced errors and unanswered turnovers enabled the visiting side to gain momentum and come away with the 49-46 win.

 "Once again, we started out strong but let our game slip in the second half of the game. We'll definitely be looking to rectify that this time round," Mentor says.